


con fantasia

by citadelofswords



Series: will you come home (and stop this pain) tonight [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Boys In Love, Dream Eater Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Dreams and Nightmares, KH3 spoilers, Love Confessions, M/M, Sort Of, Storms, all hurt very little comfort, because i know there's still some of you out there, post kh3, seriously it only gets worse before it gets better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25445149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citadelofswords/pseuds/citadelofswords
Summary: with imagination.Riku’s been struggling with sleeping through storms ever since the one that threw him, Sora, and Kairi into this war and its aftermath, but it’s been worse in the fallout of the final battle with Master Xehanort. Sometimes during summer storms on the islands, he could call Kairi or Sora would call him, and he’d either stay awake talking to them or fall asleep with a soft murmuring in his ears.But not anymore. Not now.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: will you come home (and stop this pain) tonight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842991
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	con fantasia

**Author's Note:**

> i love to think about how the destiny islands kids think about storms in the wake of kh1 :)
> 
> also let the 3d worlds be relevant nomura i'm begging
> 
> this is technically unbeta'd but please see my profile for notes about concrit. also i know way too much about kh3 for someone who's never actually played it so like if there's an inaccuracy somewhere just pretend this au is slightly canon divergent okay

It’s storming over Yen Sid’s tower.

Riku’s been struggling with sleeping through storms ever since the one that threw him, Sora, and Kairi into this war and its aftermath, but it’s been worse in the fallout of the final battle with Master Xehanort. Sometimes during summer storms on the islands, he could call Kairi or Sora would call him, and he’d either stay awake talking to them or fall asleep with a soft murmuring in his ears.

But not anymore. Not now.

His bed seems so big and lonely with just him in it.

Thunder rolls across the sky and he screws up his eyes, shoving his head under the pillow to try and block it out. It does little to muffle the boom, or the bright flash of lightning that crosses a moment later. Nor does it curb the deepening pit in his stomach, the darkness that threatens to creep up his throat and choke him. It’s all because of him that he has this sort of reaction to storms now. It’s all because of him that Sora would—

Sora’s not here, he has to remind himself. Sora’s gone. 

He holds his breath between rumbles of thunder, and falls into a fitful doze as they start to get quieter. A doze, he thinks, because right as he thinks he’s about to fall into sleep thunder crashes so loudly it shocks him into rolling right out of bed onto the floor, earning a couple splinters into his palm for his trouble.

Deep breaths. Maybe the storm wasn’t passing as soon as he thought it was. He wishes he could talk to someone, anyone, about this right now, but everyone’s off on missions right now, and Kairi’s gone home to see her dad for a while. Riku’s not sure, but he’s not sure Yen Sid is the type to chatter aimlessly in the middle of the night over a cup of hot cocoa to take his mind off the storm.

Well, he can start with the hot chocolate. Riku untangles himself from his blanket and stands up, wincing at the ache in his back. It’s not until he reaches the door that there’s a tug on his heart, and there’s a sound that doesn’t sound like thunder.

He pauses, one hand on the doorknob, waiting to hear if he hears it again. There’s a moment, and lightning that flashes so brightly he cringes away from it, and then he hears it again— a bell’s tone, carried across the wind, not unlike the sound his gummiphone makes when he gets a text from Sora.

The tug comes again, more insistent this time. Riku’s been trying to tell himself not to hope too much, that Sora’s probably not coming back any time soon (if at all, but he tries not to think about that either), but it feels like his heartsong and he’s not leaving alone if his heart is trying to tell him something. He’s still in his pajamas and he doesn’t have rainboots here, so the best he can do is throw on a jacket, cast a Light spell, and head out into the downpour.

He’s barely at the door to the tower before there’s a yank on his heart so strong he stumbles into the wood of the frame and he has to pause to catch his breath, but he can’t wait for long. The urgency has increased and he throws the tower door open.

It’s difficult to see in the rain, but that’s why he has a Light spell, and besides, the streetlamps down his block are still illuminated, even as the wind blows them askew. This storm is too much like a hurricane and not at all like the one he whipped up in darkness, but there’s still a sense of fear that carries him out the front door and down the street.

Who would be calling to him in such a storm, and where would they find safety? There’s only one real answer to the first question, and much as Riku doesn’t dare to believe it, he’s too muddled by sleep to second-guess himself. His feet carry him all the way to the beach, where the boats are tied up and he scans the docks to see if one is missing.

Because if it is Sora, and he’s out in this storm, he’ll have tried to go to the secret place, if not to Riku’s.

“Sora?” he calls, tentatively. Over the roar of the wind he doesn’t even think he can be heard, but he has to know. He has to try, because all he can imagine is Sora in the middle of the ocean, capsized, alone,  _ drowning _ , and the thought of it terrifies him. “Sora! Is it you? Are you here?”

Lightning lights up the world, glitters off the ocean waves, and Riku stumbles backwards at the roar of thunder that follows, scrambling for higher ground. “Fuck,” he whispers, because he doesn’t know what else to say.

The tug at his heart comes again, weaker this time, and he turns toward it just in time to catch the tiniest sound, under the wind. The Light spell catches a whisper of movement under the docks, and his heart pulls hard enough that he’s running, faster than he believed possible, because there’s only one person it could be.

“Sora!”

Sand flies around his feet, and it feels like an eternity before he’s skidding down to kneel by where he saw a foot shoot away. Sora’s clutching his own legs, face pressed between his knees, but when Riku falls to his knees in front of him he lifts his head, looking simultaneously younger and older than Riku remembers him being. “Riku?” he whispers.

“Sora, oh my God,” Riku says, and lightning cracks again. “We have to get you out of this storm.”

“Riku,” Sora says, dazedly. “You’re here?”

“Of course I’m here,” Riku says, and reaches to Sora’s wrists. “I’ve been waiting for you. For  _ months _ , I’ve been waiting. You picked the worst possible time to come home.”

Sora’s been crying, he notices, and doesn’t shrink away when Riku tries to grab his hands, though whether that’s shock or fear that’s frozen him in place over him actually letting Riku touch him, he’s not sure. 

“Hey,” Riku whispers. “I’m here. I’m here. I’m not letting go of you, okay?”  _ Not ever again,  _ he vows. “Let me take you home. I’ll protect you the whole way.”

“I can’t,” Sora says, yanking his hands away. Riku’s missed his eyes, always so bright and full of joy; but when Riku looks at him now the light in them is dim. “I can’t, Riku, I’m not—,”

“Don’t say that, Sora,” Riku says fiercely. “You’re here. You made it back. You have to have.” 

“We’re on the islands, Riku,” Sora says, shattering the last hopes Riku was holding in his heart. He was trying so hard to believe it was a trick of the storm. “This is a dream. It has to be a dream. You’re not—,”

“Sora, it’s me, I swear,” Riku says. “I don’t know how. I don’t even know where you are.” Everything is slotting into place— the ache in his back, the chill to Sora’s skin, the ferocity of the storm. The islands. “Sora, where are you?”

Sora shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he whispers, “but it doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter!” Riku snaps. “It matters to me— you’re somewhere cold, and alone, and afraid, and I’m not going to let that stand! You found me when I was lost, now it’s my turn. Help me find you, Sora, help me bring you home!”

Sora stares at him, eyes wide. “This is just my imagination,” he mutters, finally, and screws his eyes shut. “It’s just a dream, it’s not you, Riku, this is just—,”

“You idiot,” Riku says, pouring as much fondness into the word as possible. “You’re  _ dreaming _ , your heart called out to me. Sora, I’m your Dream Eater. I’m  _ here. _ ”

Sora’s face snaps to Riku’s. “Oh,” he breathes. “You’re… you’re here.”

“I’ve been trying to say, dummy,” Riku begins, but then Sora’s throwing his arms around Riku’s neck, holding tightly, and he’s so cold Riku gasps. 

“ _ Riku _ ,” Sora cries, and Riku clutches him close.

“I’m coming to find you,” he promises. “Sora, you hear me? I’ll tear the whole world— the whole  _ universe _ apart.”

“Don’t do that,” Sora mumbles into his shoulder. “I don’t want you to.”

“Okay,” Riku says, because he’ll do anything Sora asks. He’s known this since he was five.

The storm is fading, but so is Sora, now, the dream crumbling as he starts to wake up. “No,” Sora gasps, trying desperately to clutch onto Riku. “No, nononono, Riku, don’t go. Don’t leave me.”

“I’m in your heart, Sora, always,” Riku says, but he’s also desperately clinging to Sora’s jacket, trying to keep him there. “I’ll come find you. I’ll be there soon.”

“I’m scared.” It’s barely audible, but it’s there. Riku draws back, reaches up to cup Sora’s face in his trembling hands, wanting the last thing Sora sees to be his face. Wanting the last thing he sees, before he wakes up again, to be Sora’s.

And suddenly, there’s only one thing he can think to say. One thing he can give to Sora, to keep with him until Riku can come get him.

“Sora, I love you,” he says, and Sora’s eyes go huge. “You’re the light in my heart. I—,”

He wakes up, in the tower. Rain is still pelting the window outside, and when he stares out the window there’s no moon. His heart is aching and empty, Sora’s nightmare tastes like ash in his mouth, and when he strains to listen, his heartsong is gone.

“Goddamnit,” he swears, burying his head into his knees.

**Author's Note:**

> it WILL get better! i promise! this is only the first of dreams to come, and then there might be even more after that ;) 
> 
> tune in next wednesday for the second dream, featuring: kairi, taking full advantage of the lack of definition to princess of heart powers, and stargazing. 
> 
> if you'd like to yell at me you can message me on [tumblr](https://citadelofswords.tumblr.com) or twitter @citadelofswords


End file.
